A recent malware campaign has been uncovered, employing the Satacom downloader as a means to distribute stealthy malware capable of stealing cryptocurrency. Researchers from Kaspersky, Haim Zigel and Oleg Kupreev, identified the malware’s main purpose as performing web injections into specific cryptocurrency websites to pilfer BTC from victims’ accounts.
The targets of this campaign primarily include users of popular platforms like Coinbase, Bybit, KuCoin, Huobi, and Binance, with a focus on individuals located in Brazil, Algeria, Turkey, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Egypt, and Mexico.
The Satacom downloader, also known as Legion Loader, emerged in 2019 and acts as a dropper for subsequent payloads, including information stealers and cryptocurrency miners. The infection chain starts with users searching for cracked software, leading them to malicious websites hosting ZIP archive files containing the malware.
Within the archive, there is an executable named “Setup.exe” that appears to be 5 MB in size but is actually inflated to approximately 450 MB using null bytes to evade detection and analysis.
Upon execution, the malware routine begins, culminating in the launch of the Satacom downloader. The downloader employs DNS requests as a command-and-control (C2) method to fetch the URL hosting the actual malware. Kaspersky researchers discovered that the campaign involves a PowerShell script that downloads a browser add-on from a remote third-party server.
The add-on disguises itself as a Google Drive extension and leverages web injections from the C2 server to manipulate content and steal cryptocurrencies when victims visit targeted cryptocurrency websites.
To conceal its activities, the malicious extension employs various techniques. It conceals the C2 address within the script and add fields of the most recent bitcoin transaction associated with a wallet controlled by the threat actors.
This method helps the malware evade domain blockades or takedowns. Additionally, the extension includes scripts to hide email confirmations of fraudulent transactions across Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo! services by injecting HTML code. The add-on also possesses the capability to extract system metadata, cookies, browser history, screenshots, and receive commands from the C2 server.
This discovery comes amidst the emergence of other extensions on the Chrome Web Store that pose as legitimate utilities but contain obfuscated code allowing third-party websites to inject arbitrary JavaScript into visited websites without user consent.
These extensions have the potential to spread adware, hijack search results, and display malicious or sponsored links. It highlights the growing sophistication of malware campaigns aimed at exploiting the widespread use of cryptocurrencies and underscores the importance of vigilance and robust cybersecurity practices to protect against such threats.
